New Jersey
The State We’re In: Hit the ‘trail’ and learn about NJ’s Black history (News Jersey Conservation Foundation Column)
James Still always wanted to become a doctor, but as a Black child in the 1800s, never had the opportunity to go to medical school. Undeterred, he learned to make botanical extracts from native plants, and studied books on anatomy, physiology, botany and medicine. Still became a skilled healer with an office in Medford, and earned fame as “the Black doctor of the Pines.”
Friday Truehart, an enslaved teen, was taken from South Carolina to the Sourland Mountains of New Jersey in the late 1700s. After laboring for many years, he gained his freedom and became one of the first African American landowners in the region. Today, land once owned by one of Friday’s descendants is the site of the Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum (SSAAM), dedicated to preserving stories of early Black settlement in the area.
T. Thomas Fortune was born into slavery, but after being freed by the Emancipation Proclamation rose to become a leading journalist and civil rights activist. As the editor and owner of the New York Globe – which spoke out against racial inequality – he was one of the nation’s most influential Blacks by the time he moved to Red Bank in 1901. He also founded the African American League, which later became the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
What do Dr. Still’s medical office, Fortune’s home and SSAAM – located in the former Mount Zion AME Church in Skillman – have in common?
All three are now part of the New Jersey Black Heritage Trail, a route highlighting important Black history sites, and illuminating the struggle for freedom, justice and equality. The new trail will lead visitors on a winding journey throughout this state we’re in, using historical markers to describe the contributions of notable Black residents and institutions.
The stage was set in 2022, when Governor Murphy signed a law calling for the creation of a Black Heritage Trail. Earlier this year, the New Jersey Historical Commission invited towns and organizations to nominate sites. Over 60 entries were received!
In April, the Commission announced the inaugural selection of 32 sites. Each will get a historical marker telling its story, along with a QR code that visitors can scan for more information. More sites are expected to be added in the future.
“Our goal is to showcase the many contributions of Black Americans to more than 300 years of New Jersey history,” said Sara Cureton, Executive Director of the NJHC. “The creation and maintenance of this trail will be an ongoing process, but I am thrilled to have the first sites selected and proud of the work of the New Jersey Black Heritage Trail team.”
Here, by county, are the initial 32 sites:
Atlantic County – Chicken Bone Beach in Atlantic City, where Black families gathered before segregation was ended;
Bergen County – Cleveland School in Englewood, the site of 1960s sit-ins to protest school segregation;
Burlington County – The Timbuctoo African American settlement in Westhampton; Dr. James Still’s office in Medford; Bethlehem AME Church and its pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Pierce;
Camden County – Kaighn Avenue Baptist Church in Camden; abolitionist and activist Rev. Alexander Heritage Newton’s home in Camden; Lawnside, the first incorporated and self-governed Black municipality north of the Mason-Dixon Line; The Point, an historically Black neighborhood in Haddonfield;
Cape May County – The Harriet Tubman Museum of New Jersey, honoring the Underground Railroad icon; the Macedonia Baptist Church; and the Franklin Street School, all in Cape May;
Cumberland County – The communities of Bivalve and Shellpile, and the Maurice River, where many African Americans worked during the heyday of the oyster industry;
Essex County – Site of East Orange Freedom Schools (1905-1906); and the Montclair Young Women’s Christian Association;
Mercer County – The earliest known burial place of African Americans in Trenton; Black soldiers at Washington’s Crossing; Enslavement at the Falls of the Delaware in the 1720s in Trenton; 626 Perry Street in Trenton; Black soldiers at Princeton Battlefield;
Middlesex County – The Metuchen birthplace of Thomas Mundy Peterson, the first African American to vote in a U.S. election;
Monmouth County – Jazz pianist, bandleader and composer William J. “Count” Basie and the Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank; T. Thomas Fortune Cultural Center in Red Bank; the Turf Club in Asbury Park; the historic Cedar View Cemetery in Lincroft; U.S. Army “Black Brain Center” at Fort Monmouth in Wall Township, where Black scientists and engineers advanced their careers;
Morris County – The site of a 1964 protest against a barbershop in Madison that refused Black customers;
Passaic County – Hinchliffe Stadium in Paterson, home of the first professional Black baseball leagues; the home of James H. Penn, Passaic’s first Black mailman and first Black attorney;
Ocean County – Manitou Park School in Berkeley Township, a one-room schoolhouse built in 1929 to serve the township’s African-American children;
Somerset County – Mount Zion AME Church in Skillman, now the site of the Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum;
Union County – Shady Rest Country Club in Scotch Plains, the first Black-owned golf and country club in the U.S.; the Drake House in Plainfield, honoring Caesar (1702-1806), a freed slave who served as a teamster with the Continental Army during the American Revolution.
For four centuries, the Black community in New Jersey has helped shape the state’s history, culture, government, educational and religious institutions, businesses and industries. But for too long, many remarkable stories of Black contributions have gone untold.
The New Jersey Black Heritage Trail is an important step in illuminating the Black experience, while building pride and boosting tourism. This inaugural listing of sites should stimulate communities around New Jersey to search their local history and historic sites as potential future additions to this unique and long overdue experience.
For information on the New Jersey Black History Trail and how it was established, go to https://nj.gov/state/historical/his-black-heritage-trail.shtml. Details about the 32 inaugural sites are not yet available on the state website, but https://visitnj.org/Black-Heritage includes information about many sites.
And to learn more about preserving New Jersey’s land and natural resources, visit the New Jersey Conservation Foundation website at www.njconservation.org or contact me at info@njconservation.org.
Blacksmith Triangle, the site of a former gas station at the corner of North Olden and Lawrence avenues in Trenton, has taken on a new life as the city’s latest green space.
New Jersey Conservation Foundation (NJ Conservation), in partnership with the City of Trenton and other environmental and community organizations, worked to transform the site into a forested park addition over the last two years. Improvements included site clearing and grading, seeding, new sidewalks, bollards, a brick-paved entry plaza, and 14 honey locust trees. The project’s completion was celebrated in May.
The City remediated Blacksmith Triangle years ago to clean up the contamination left behind from its former use as a gas station. But until recently it remained covered with concrete and asphalt and was often used as a de facto parking lot. In 2024, NJ Conservation received a grant from the Licensed Site Remediation Professionals Association Foundation to plant trees on the site, which spurred conversations with Trenton officials about turning the lot into a forested plaza and gateway to George Page Park and the Assunpink Greenway. Construction began in December 2025, thanks to a significant financial contribution from the City of Trenton and additional funding secured by NJ Conservation from private donors.
With this new green space, project leaders aim to increase shade for city residents, who are experiencing disproportionate impacts of climate change. Trenton neighborhoods are dealing with the ‘heat island effect’ that causes higher ambient temperatures in urban areas than in suburban and rural areas.
“Excessive heat is deadly in our communities, and this work will help future generations of Trentonians cope with the rising temperatures that will come with our new climate realities,” said Jay Watson, NJ Conservation’s Senior Fellow for Conservation Justice. “New Jersey Conservation Foundation is proud to do this green infrastructure work in our capital city.”
At a grand opening celebration for Blacksmith Triangle last month, Paul Harris, Trenton’s Director of Recreation, Natural Resources, and Culture, said the City is excited about the lot’s transformation, highlighting the partnership that made the project possible.
“Our goal is to green as much of the town as we can, but in order to do that successfully, we need to bring on partners,” said Harris.
The revitalization of Blacksmith Triangle is part of a larger greening effort throughout the city. NJ Conservation and its partners — City of Trenton, Isles, the New Jersey Tree Foundation, the Watershed Institute, and the Outdoor Equity Alliance — are working to build a greener, more equitable New Jersey through the Trees for Trenton program. Thanks to a grant from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, 1,000 shade trees are being planted throughout Trenton, creating a healthier environment for residents and visitors.
Trees for Trenton was announced in 2023 at an Arbor Day celebration when the first trees were planted at Mulberry Street Park. More than 900 trees have been planted throughout the city since then.
(Courtesy of New Jersey Conservation Foundation)
About New Jersey Conservation Foundation
Recognizing that a healthy environment is critical to the well-being and survival of all living things, New Jersey Conservation Foundation is devoted to preserving land and protecting natural resources throughout New Jersey’s rural, suburban, and urban landscapes.
Since 1960, the nonprofit, nonpartisan, statewide organization has preserved more than 140,000 acres of open space, farmland, and parks. The organization manages more than a dozen nature preserves, conducts public outreach and education programs, and advocates for sensible land use and climate policies that will protect the health of New Jersey’s plants, wildlife, and people for generations to come.
Courtesy of New Jersey Conservation Foundation
How to protect your NJ home from wind: Video
Here’s how to windproof your home to minimize damage, and what to do if a tree falls on your property as a result of the weather
A severe thunderstorm watch looms over North Jersey on the evening of June 12 after days of extreme heat.
Nation Weather Service New York declared a severe thunderstorm watch for numerous North Jersey counties including Bergen, Passaic, Hudson, Essex, Morris and Sussex among other Central Jersey and New York counties. The watch is in effect until 9 p.m., according to the NWS statement.
In an hourly forecast from The Weather Channel for Paramus, there is a 74% chance of thunderstorms at 7 p.m.
High temperatures reached past 90 degrees in many parts of North Jersey on June 11 and June 12 as a heat advisory also remains in effect until 8 p.m., said NWS New York.
“Dangerous heat is expected to continue across much of our region through today, with several record highs likely to be challenged again. High temperatures are forecast to peak into the low to mid 90s across most of the area,” the National Weather Service said Friday.
A Heat Advisory is in effect until 8 p.m. across the state except for Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland and Salem counties.
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